Friday May 4th, 2007: Issue #798
What is mentoring?
There are all kinds of words that describe a person who helps someone else achieve their goals: mentor, coach, trainer, life coach, teacher … there are differences between them, but also a lot of overlap.
When I said that I was planning to open up a mentoring program (in the last issue) I seem to have opened the floodgates. There are a lot of Kickstart readers who are interested! And that was without me telling you what I have in mind.
I’m still formulating the structure, but here is some of my thinking so far:
It will be a membership only deal. You’ll pay a monthly fee (far lower than most mentors/coaches/trainers charge) and this will get you access to some unique benefits:
* First and foremost you’ll get access to me. If you have problems or questions relating to Internet marketing, I’ll be at the other end of an email to help guide you along.
* Every member will receive a special printed version of Kickstart, once a month, that is completely different to the regular ezine. I will be selling subscriptions to this separately, but my mentoring members will get it as part of their membership.
* A membership website with unique in-depth articles about the latest Internet marketing ideas and strategies.
* Interviews with people who are really achieving - the stuff of inspiration!
Who is this all aimed at?
Primarily, it is aimed at people who are currently Internet marketing beginners. People who like what they see, but don’t quite know how to take that step to making it happen for themselves yet. But beyond that there is a big audience of people who already know the basics, but for some reason have stalled. They just don’t seem to be able to make it happen even though, in theory, they know how.
Internet marketing can be confusing. It can be infuriating. It is often frustrating. And for 90% of people who try their hand at it, it is ultimately very unrewarding. I want to help you cut through the confusion and join the 10% of folks who can honestly say. ‘yes, I made money online today.’
If this all sounds like something you’d benefit from, drop me an email (by replying to this newsletter) to register your interest. You won’t be obligated in any way (there is nothing to buy yet anyway), but it will help me to get a clearer picture of the level of interest.
And while you are at it, how about telling me what kinds of things you feel you need the most help with?
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I’ve opened a new bank account and I went in yesterday to deposit my first check. Pretty much everything I earn is in US Dollars, so when I presented the check the cashier told me I have to fill in a huge form - in triplicate to make the deposit.
The line in the bank is always long, so I would have to queue up for ten to fifteen minutes to get the form, go off elsewhere to fill it all in, and then line up for another fifteen minutes to deposit the check.
Are they kidding?
Naturally I loudly protested that this was a waste of time, effort and paper and that my previous bank had no such requirement. The assistant manager was called, who seemed only to be able to explain that the form was bank policy and that I would have to fill one in for each individual check that I ever wanted to deposit.
Right. Like that’s going to happen.
I simply said thank you for opening my new account but as it was now unusable, I’d rather go back to my old bank.
The manager was called.
He spouted the same bank policy. I pointed out that he wasn’t adding anything new to my knowledge as the original clerk had told me all the same stuff, and the assistant manager had repeated it. I asked if he could actually do anything about it so that I don’t have to waste endless time simply to put my own money into his bank. He said no. It was above his head.
I asked whose head might be able to see above the red tape.
That seemed to throw him!
Eventually he suggested I talk with the business manager who had opened my account for me - and even dialed her number on his cell phone for me. (He wasn’t all bad after all!)
The business manager understood the problem, but explained that it was caused by a policy decision in the International department at head office. She did, however, promise to talk to them on my behalf as she agreed that for someone like me who gets a lot of Dollar checks, the system is unworkable.
Some hours later she called me back with the news that although the International department in head office wouldn’t budge on the need for the crazy paperwork, they did agree that it was bad customer relations to expect me to fill it all in. They have therefore introduced a new policy whereby I only have to fill in the form once, when I first deposit a Dollar check, and thereafter the branch itself can do the paperwork internally.
I’m sure that won’t make me popular with the branch clerks, but at least it does show that one person can cut through pointless and meaningless bureaucracy if they stick to their guns.
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I really am getting old.
As anyone who has read Kickstart for a while knows, one of my favorite aspects of this Internet lifestyle is that I can sit in Starbucks with a larger mug of green tea, a blueberry muffin or a granola bar and a notebook and make money while I relax.
Well I relaxed a bit too much yesterday.
I was lucky to get one of their large comfy armchairs and so I settled in to read a fascinating magazine article.
And was woken up by a loud noise twenty minutes later. The noise was my own snoring!
Luckily I hadn’t dropped anything and I wasn’t drooling, but it made me realize that my dotage has arrive early!
How embarrassing!
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One of the nice things about writing a newsletter is that a lot of folks send you ebooks and products to review in the hope that you’ll promote them. And one of the hardest things is to tell them that you’d rather not.
It isn’t always because the product is bad (although there are some of those around) but more often because I can’t see how they fit into what Kickstart is about. Or that they are answering a need that has already been met by something else.
Another problem is that sometimes so many new products are launched at the same time that it is impossible for me to review them all - and then I usually plan to come back to them later. But as things tend to get in the way, I often forget.
That happened with a product called Website Header Wizard.
It was launched some months ago by a good friend of mine - David Watson, the creator of the excellent Website Article Wizard and Website Content Wizard (both programs I strongly recommend).
For a variety of reasons I never got around to testing Website Header Wizard out and I’m ashamed to say that I completely forgot about it.
Something happened to remind me a few days ago and so I dusted off Dave’s email and downloaded the software.
David is one of those people who creates very simple to use software that belies how powerful it is. Website Header Wizard is in the same vein. There is a lot going on under the hood, but as a user, you’d never know it.
All you do is set the header size, choose a background image from a collection of over 500 within the program (or add an image of you own), add whatever text you want and decide on its size, font and color, and then click on save.
To show how easy it is and how good the results can be, I created an example on this page here: http://www.kickstartdaily.com/whw/ - it took exactly three minutes!
Considering that I’ve spent half a day working on graphical headers for some of my websites before now, you can see why I consider WHW a blessing!
David’s sales page is here: http://www.urlnex.us/whw/
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An Inspirational Thought
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I love bookshops. Old books, new books, any books.
One of the reasons I find them so fascinating is because they inspire me so much. And often without me having to spend a single penny.
I have a single little three-letter thought that I keep in mind when I go into a bookstore: ‘huh?’
It is shorthand for ‘who, what, where, why, what, how?’ and it is the thought I use when looking at book titles.
Look a the title of a book, any book, think ‘huh?’, and you can’t help but have your mind flooded with questions. And once in a while an answer creeps in as well.
And THAT is inspiration.
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Who do you know who would love Kickstart Today?
Don’t keep it to yourself - send them to
http://www.kickstartdaily.com today!
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The Quote of the Day
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Helen Hayes said,
“My mother drew a distinction between achievement and success. She said that ‘achievement is the knowledge that you have studied and worked hard and done the best that is in you. Success is being praised by others, and that’s nice, too, but not as important or satisfying. Always aim for achievement and forget about success.’”
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Today’s Power Thought
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Let’s end this week by looking at the things that are inside your head that will try to stop you from being the success you deserve.
There is a technical term for them:
‘Self-limiting beliefs.’
Take a look at those three words.
Self. Self implies that it is inside of you. That it has no external reference. It is your creation. No-one else’s.
Limiting. To limit is to set a barrier. A barrier that you cannot pass.
Beliefs. Beliefs are ideas that are taken on trust. They have no particular basis in fact - they are something that you have come to accept without question.
Self-limiting beliefs: uncorroborated ideas that you have put in place to set artificial barriers for yourself.
We all have thousands of them. Every single one of us believes absolutely in hundreds of so-called facts that hold us back from where we really should be going.
When I was 11 my head teacher told my parents that I was a good student but I was let down by my writing. I took that to mean that I was a bad writer (I think now he meant my handwriting, but the damage was done). So for the next 30 years I hardly dared to write anything. I was NOT a writer. I believed that absolutely, but still there was a voice inside of me that was trying to get out.
Then one day I wrote a few things for my own amusement and other people got to see them. They said they liked what they saw and had I got any more?
Bang! My self-limiting belief was challenged. My inner voice escaped.
Now I write every day for thousands of people, have produced five ebooks and have at least three more on the blocks.
I can now say, without fear of my brain laughing at me, that I AM a writer.
I still have other self-limiting beliefs. I can read the words on a tax return, for example, but my brain refuses to let me understand them.
I know I COULD install my new forum software, but my self-limiting belief keeps telling me that I will mess it up.
But you know what - I recognize these self-limiting beliefs as the fallacies that they really are. I KNOW in my heart that they are only my brain’s way of protecting me from failure.
But what is worse - failing to succeed or failing to try?
Your self-limiting beliefs are probably every bit as silly as my ones. And you are sure to be far more able that you ever give yourself credit for.
So to end this week, my message is simply this - suspend your disbelief in yourself.
From now on, stop suspecting that you CAN’T and start to believe that you CAN.
You will find a lot of barriers melt away.
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Fascinating Facts
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Do you know where Polar Bears live?
To help you remember, the Greek for ‘bear’ is ‘arktos’, so the name for the place where the bears live is the Arctic.
‘Anti Arktos’ means ‘no bears’. Hence the Antarctic.